The Simple Life
Chapter 2
Rufus looked up from his tea, his gaze instantly landing on Tifa Lockheart who had just entered the dining area. She stopped before him with a scornful look on her face which made him raise an eyebrow at her. From the look in her eyes, he could tell that she was about to say something nasty to him, so he just braced himself for what he was about to hear.
Placing her hands on her hips, she began in a very aggressively confronting manner, "Rufus ShinRa, I want to have a word with you."
He almost forgot to breathe. A person from several classes lower than him was acting like that. So unacceptable. But still, what can he do?
Rufus just stared at her. "Go ahead, Miss Lockhart." He responded with a cool tone. Although for Tifa, it sounded like he was mocking her.
"First of all, what did Cloud tell you about staying here?" she asked directly.
Rufus took a deep breath and responded with a calm voice, "He told me I could spend the night here. It's out of gratitude, I deem."
"But are you aware that your Turks have decided to help out in my bar during the evenings, and then in the daytime, Reno and Elena will be working with Cloud in his courier service while Rude and Tseng will be helping out Barret in finding ways to gain access to the fuel that will run the whole city…"
Rufus frowned. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
"You're broke, Rufus, didn't that occur to you?" she asked rather haughtily.
Rufus felt his heart skip a beat. It was like a big blow to his ego. "I am not broke. I just have very little resources now because I donated some of it to the WRO to support Reeve and…"
"But still, it's not enough. Even the WRO is having a hard time fulfilling their goal." Tifa interrupted.
Rufus refused to take his gaze away from her. "If you want me and my Turks to leave, we will leave in the morning." He told her coldly.
"That's the problem. Your Turks refuse to leave." She took a seat close to him and leaned forward. "Tseng proposed that he and the other Turks would like you to stay here and while you're here they will work for us." She told him.
He just frowned at her. "Why don't you just tell me that you want me to leave?" he pointed out directly. He got up from his seat and staggered towards the doorway leading to the bar. "That is what you want, isn't it?" he asked haughtily before turning to the Turks. "What is this? What are you doing?" he demanded from them.
"We're… helping out here, sir." Reno replied quite hesitantly.
Cloud got down from upstairs and arrived at the scene. Seeing Rufus standing up by himself made him feel uncomfortable. "You still shouldn't be moving around too much." He said as he approached Rufus when he noticed that the other customers were staring in shock at him.
"Why is the President here?"
"What President? He's not the President anymore!"
"Oh yeah… you're right."
"Yeah. He lost everything."
"Serves him right. His family ruined everything anyway."
Rufus cringed upon hearing some of the whispering from the customers but he managed to keep a straight face. He felt Cloud guide him away from the crowd. "Let's go upstairs." Cloud told him.
Rufus felt helpless. He just walked with him quietly although he was feeling bad already.
"Tifa just confronted me about something…" Rufus began as they were slowly climbing up the steps going to the second storey of the house.
"Did she nag you or something?" Cloud asked with a disapproving tone.
"…Never you mind, but from the way she looked at me and from how she sounded, she wants me out of here." Rufus told him. He looked at Cloud. "Why didn't you tell me that the Turks wanted me to stay here?" he asked.
Cloud lowered his gaze to the floor. "Just consider this as an act of kindness from me." He said.
"You only? What about the others?" Rufus demanded.
"You're fine with them. I don't know about Tifa though." Cloud responded rather vaguely.
"This is her house, if I am not mistaken. I think I should just leave." Rufus began.
"And if you leave, where will you stay in that condition of yours? Do you think anybody else would admit you into a hospital for special treatment? Do you think Reeve can provide for you? Do you think your Turks can find any other sort of work out there that would not require them to risk their lives for you?" Cloud answered with a frown on his face, eyeing Rufus carefully.
Rufus just eyed him coldly before turning away. "I don't like acts of charity towards me." He muttered.
"You want to be left alone." Cloud pointed out as he led Rufus to a small room. Rufus looked around and saw pipes on the ceiling, a bed by the window, blue curtains and a small cabinet. He also saw Cloud's sword resting by a chair near the bedside table.
Cloud seated Rufus onto the bed.
"We can help each other now, Rufus. Remember when you told me that we won't become friends? Why don't we start over again?" Cloud asked him.
Rufus just looked coldly at him. "I am surprised at you. You've changed." He said.
Cloud just smiled simply at him. "You too." he got up and switched on the radiator. "Sorry if this room is small but we only have a few good rooms here. You wouldn't want to sleep in Tifa's room, would you?" he asked.
Rufus eyed him ridiculously. "This is your room, isn't it?" he demanded.
Cloud just looked up at the ceiling. "You're really the smartest person I know." He turned away from Rufus. "Yell if you need anything." He told him.
"Wait, where are you going to sleep?" Rufus asked in confusion.
Cloud turned back to him. "You stay on the bed, I'll stay on the floor. You wanted an able bodyguard, right? I can grant your request now. I'll be your bodyguard." He replied.
"I wanted an able bodyguard when Kadaj and his brothers were still alive, and now that they're gone, I don't think I would need one anymore…" Rufus began, but Cloud ignored him.
"Yell if you need anything." Cloud repeated before stepping out of the room, although he left the door open.
Marlene and Denzel watched from their door as Cloud went downstairs again. "He sure is different now." She declared softly.
"Yeah." Denzel replied before turning his gaze to the doorway of Cloud's bedroom. "But at least he seems happier." Marlene said with a smile on her face.
Denzel stepped out of their room and walked towards Cloud's room.
"Where are you going?" Marlene asked as she went after him.
Denzel stopped by the doorway of Cloud's room and stared at Rufus ShinRa who was seated on the bed and looking out the window, as if stargazing; although it was a starless evening.
Upon sensing another presence in the room, Rufus turned to the doorway and saw the two children staring curiously at him. "Blimey. Children. How do I talk to them…" he was thinking miserably to himself in silence as he eyed them back.
Marlene smiled shyly at him. "Hello… Mister President." She greeted.
Rufus eased up a little. "Hello. Marlene, right?" he asked, forcing a smile at her.
She nodded happily and ran to his side. She climbed up the bed and hugged him.
Rufus was surprised. It was the first time that he ever received a hug from a child. And it was sincere. He felt like all his troubles had melted away.
"You're really a nice man, you know?" she said sweetly.
Rufus felt his heart sink. He turned his gaze to Denzel.
Denzel smiled slightly at him and then looked away.
Rufus eyed him curiously before turning back to Marlene. "You think so?" he asked.
"Uh-huh! She told me!" Marlene said happily.
Rufus frowned slightly as the little girl withdrew from him. "Who?" he asked.
Marlene giggled. "Aerith." She replied.
Rufus felt his heart stop for a moment. "…Aerith?" he asked.
She nodded and sat down beside him. "So how are you doing now, sir?" she asked.
He looked at her curiously and shrugged. "Alright, I guess." He replied.
Denzel just turned and walked away, leaving Marlene and Rufus there.
"Denzel," Marlene called out.
But the boy never looked back.
Marlene felt a little disappointed before turning back to Rufus. "I told Denzel that you're not a bad man. You may seem like one at first because of your daddy, but deep inside, if people just get to know you better, they will know that you're not." She said.
Rufus just kept quiet, more concerned on what Denzel would think about him.
"Daddy told me that you're going to live here with us." She continued.
"And what do you think of that?" he asked her, examining the pleased look on her face.
She swayed her head from side to side. "I'm happy, of course! Because I am going to have a new friend!" she said. "We're friends, right?" she asked.
Rufus just stared at her for a few moments before smiling kindly at her. "Yes, we are." He said.
oOoOo
"Why did you say that to Rufus?" Cloud demanded from Tifa as he just sat by the counter and eyed her while she was wiping some of the glasses by the sink of the bar.
"I don't really like the idea of having somebody like Rufus in my house." She pointed out.
"Just say that you don't like the ShinRas because of what they have done." He told her.
She turned to him sharply with a scornful look on her face. "He tried to kill me for crying out loud!" she pointed out, surprising the other customers because she had spoken in a very loud voice.
"Ahem," Reno cleared his throat to catch Tifa's attention. "Correction, ma'am. It was Scarlet who passed the proposal that you and Mister Wallace should be gassed in Junon. I don't know what came over the Prez and he agreed." He pointed out.
"What's going on in here?" Barret asked, arriving from the living room area.
"She's like, getting hysterical because Rufus is staying here and she's just concerned because of the gas chamber issue from two years ago." Yuffie pointed out, rolling her eyes while putting some ice in the shaker.
Barret just stared at Tifa before leaving the room again. "I'll just be in the living room watching Rugby with Vincent." He said.
Tifa tried to protest, but Denzel spoke up from the doorway leading to the stairs. "People should be given another chance, Tifa." He said.
All eyes turned to him. He just stared back at Tifa.
Tifa put down the glass and the washcloth that she was holding and decided to go upstairs.
While she was walking to the room where she could hear Marlene and Rufus conversing, she slowed down and just remained outside, standing behind the wall and listened.
"…but you almost got Tifa and my Papa killed. It just makes me sad." Marlene said sadly as she lowered her gaze to the floor.
Rufus remembered that day. How could he forget that day? He shook his head and smiled calmly at Marlene. "Don't be. I didn't mean it." He said.
"You didn't?" she asked, looking up at him with a curious look on her face.
"I had this employee once. Her name is Scarlet. I don't know why she hates Tifa. But you know something?" Rufus asked, leaning closer to Marlene and lowering his voice and whispered, "I think she's just jealous of Tifa."
Marlene giggled. "Teehee! Really?" she asked.
"It's obvious. She was the one who wanted Tifa and your father to be gassed. Of course I did not want the others to know that I am a nice person, so what I did was to oblige to Scarlet's request." He responded.
He had anticipated Marlene's lips curving into a pout and seeing the frown on her face made him smile in satisfaction. He laughed at her reaction. "Wait a moment, I am not yet finished with my story." He told her.
He watched her facial expression soften and she looked up at him in wonder with a spark of hope in her eyes. With that he continued, "However, I wanted Tifa to escape since she's the first one in the gas chamber." He looked up at the ceiling with a reminiscent look on his face. "I realized how afraid she was… she did not want to die. I would not want anybody to die… so what I did was to make a deal with one of the SOLDIERs in the gas chamber." He explained.
Marlene's face lit up in happiness. "Ooh! What happened?" she asked excitedly.
"I told the SOLDIER to drop the key somewhere near her where she could easily reach it. But of course I told the SOLDIER not to be obvious." Rufus flipped his hair with a proud look on his face.
Marlene smiled kindly at him and pulled out something from her pocket. Rufus looked at her hand and saw that she was holding a pink ribbon and to his surprise, she began to roll up his sleeve a little. "I think you should tell that to Tifa so that she will not hate you anymore." She said as she began to tie the ribbon around Rufus's right wrist.
He frowned slightly. "She hates me?" he asked.
She nodded. "She said she hates everything in ShinRa. So I think that includes you too. But anyway, she's really nice. She takes care of me when Papa's not here." She said as she finished tying the ribbon. She clapped her hands. "There you go, President Rufus!" she said cheerfully.
He stared at the ribbon. "What is this for?" he asked, recalling that Cloud and the others also have that ribbon tied around their arms or forearms.
"Just always have it with you and you'll be safe, President Rufus." Marlene said.
Rufus smiled kindly at her. "Just call me Rufus." He said as he patted her head gently.
She nodded. "Okay, Rufus!" she said happily.
Tifa narrowed her eyes as she swallowed hard and stepped onto the doorway where they could see her. They both looked at her in surprise.
"It's time for bed, Marlene." She said with a stern tone.
Marlene smiled and nodded before turning to Rufus. "Goodnight, Rufus." She said as she gave him a hug before jumping off the bed and dashed out of the room. "G'night, Tifa!" she said before she got inside her own room.
Tifa waited until Marlene closed her door before turning back to Rufus.
Rufus refused to look at her. Slowly, he laid himself on the bed and turned away from her. He was facing the wall and he had a frown on his face.
"I do hope you're comfortable there." She said, not really knowing what to say to him after what she had learned from her eavesdropping moments ago. She suddenly felt guilty about treating Rufus badly earlier that evening.
Rufus just kept quiet. He frowned when he heard her footsteps nearing him.
Tifa got the blue checkered wool blanket which originally belongs to Cloud, but she noticed the other wool blanket settled on a stool where his other pillows are. "Pink?" Tifa thought in surprise as she realized that Cloud would be using the pink blanket for later when he's going to sleep on the floor. Shrugging it off, she spread the blanket over Rufus, making him feel puzzled about her sudden "kindness", if that is what you could call it at that moment.
She sighed heavily. "I'm… sorry if I was mean to you. I guess I was just… surprised." She said with a tone of guilt. He heard her voice tremble and he could not help but smile slyly at the sound of it.
"It's been a long day. Fatigue can make us cranky." He responded haughtily.
She swallowed hard and nodded. He has a point. "Yes. It does make us cranky…" she said softly, realizing that she has made him cranky already. "Well goodnight." She turned and walked away, leaving him there.
He was about to say something else, wanting to apologize in his part, but it was too late. When he sat up again, she was already gone.
He stared at the empty doorway for a few moments before he took a deep breath and plopped down on the bed again, pulling the blanket up to his chin. He stared up at the ceiling, realizing that everything felt different already. He did not feel sick anymore, though he still felt tired and stressed out. "Must be because of the adrenalin rush this afternoon when I fell off the building shooting the bloody box." He thought to himself.
But then the whole of reality began to sink in. He had little resources left and he had to make a living for himself with what remains from his money. And looking up at the dark ceiling with pipes and some cobwebs, he began to feel uncomfortable upon realizing that this was his first night without all the luxuries his former life had offered him. And he began to feel the coldness of the evening air coming from outside, even though the windows were closed and the radiator was switched on.
"God, let me wake up in a much happier place than this one…" he prayed silently with a miserable look on his face before closing his eyes, letting himself drift off to sleep.
oOoOo
Around 1:30 in the morning, just an hour after closing time, Tifa and the Turks had finished cleaning up.
The others had been asleep for a couple of hours already and by the time they locked the doors and got upstairs, Tifa was the one who showed the Turks to their respective rooms.
"I don't know who's going to sleep in which room because Barret is the one who arranged the two vacant rooms. Sorry if they're small but it's all we have right now." Tifa said.
"Nah. Don't be sorry, Miss Lockhart. We don't mind." Elena said with a reassuring smile on her face.
"Where's the President?" Tseng asked, turning to Tifa.
"He's in Cloud's room. Don't worry, I am very sure he's safe with Cloud around." Tifa said with a wink.
Tseng nodded with a pleased smile on his face. "I'm really thankful for you people. Who would've thought ShinRa and AVALANCHE would get along someday." He said before turning to his Turks. "Reno, Elena, you stay together in that room near Cloud's. I'll be with Rude." He explained.
Elena's eyes widened in shock. "Like, what?" she demanded in annoyance.
"Whehehey!" Reno cheered with a malicious look on his face.
"No monkey business, Reno." Tseng warned sternly before turning to Rude. "We'll stay in this room closer to the stairs so that we could hear noises from downstairs." He said.
"Yes, sir." Rude said, nodding his head as Tseng led the way to their room.
"But Boss! Reno might do something to me!" Elena wailed.
"Elena, stop complaining and just do your job. This is for the President!" Tseng pointed out.
Elena pouted.
"Chill out, Elena. I have no interest in you so far. Haha." Reno teased, nudging her with his elbow meaning to annoy her.
"Ugh. Just stay away from me!" she snapped as she moved away from him and went ahead to their room.
Tifa fought the urge to snicker. "Good night, everyone. Thanks for the evening." She said before heading for her own room which she shares with Yuffie.
As soon Reno and Elena got inside their room and he shut the door, they stared at each other with probing gazes… and they both rushed to the bed.
"I GOT IT FIRST!" Elena cheered happily as she dived and landed on the bed.
Reno landed on the floor when he attempted to dive onto the bed. "Damn!" he reacted in annoyance as he slowly got up again, trying not to mind the pain he was feeling all over his body because of his impact to the ground. He went over to the chair by the window upon seeing the extra blankets and pillows resting on top of it with the extra mattress leaning against the wall beside it. "You think the Prez is sleeping on the floor?" he asked mindlessly.
Elena kicked off her shoes and blinked. "I don't know. I'm sure Cloud wouldn't let him. I mean, he's still sick, I guess." She pointed out with a frown on her face. She sighed as she sat up on the bed and watched Reno arranging his own area on the floor. "You think he's going to be okay?" she asked as she slowly removed her black blazer while trying her best not to wince in pain, but Reno saw her and the look on her face. He eyed her curiously, "You alright?" he asked.
"Just… some scratches." She replied weakly.
Reno's eyes widened upon seeing her bloodstained white long-sleeved polo. "Damn! What happened to you?" he demanded as he dropped the pillows on the floor and rushed immediately to her, seizing her arms.
"Ow! Slow down! You're hurting me!" she cried out in pain.
From the other rooms, Tifa stopped brushing her hair when she heard Elena say that. She blushed slightly and giggled.
Rufus, opened his eyes upon hearing the noise coming from Reno and Elena's room. "Blimey…" he muttered.
Cloud stirred. "Damn. They should get a room…" he murmured.
"They are in a room." Rufus replied before slowly drifting off to sleep again.
Tseng was snickering in his own room with Rude. His companion's face was red while trying his best to remain poker-faced. "Looks like Reno scored tonight, huh?" Tseng asked.
Rude just kept quiet, feeling embarrassed for his friend.
Vincent just covered his face with a blanket as he kept still on his own bed. "Oh dear…" he muttered to himself.
Reno frowned at her, "Shh! Do you want the president to wake up because of your noise?" he asked as he rolled up the sleeves and saw that her arms were wrapped with bandages. "Who did this to you?" he asked with a concerned look on his face as he saw too much blood seeping through the bandages.
She withdrew her hands from him. "Tseng and I had been captured and tortured by those three silver-haired freaks, alright?" she said weakly as she decided to lie down and face away from him.
"But… what about Tseng? Does he have the same…" he began.
"He's got a few stitches but he's fine. We went to a hospital first before coming to rescue the Prez." She replied.
"What about you?" he asked.
"We don't have money, okay? We barely even had enough to pay for his hospital bills. So never mind." She muttered miserably.
Reno was amazed and shock at the same time. How could Elena remain cheerful and active despite her condition? "So that's why she looks too pale…" he thought to himself. Carefully, he lifted her up from the bed and carried her to the door. "Hey!" Elena reacted in shock.
"I'm not going to let you bleed to death. And I wouldn't want to wake up later on with a dead woman sleeping on that bed just because of loss of blood!" he said with a stern tone.
"Where are you taking me?" she demanded in annoyance. She just wants to rest, but he was already taking her downstairs.
"To the nearest hospital or clinic." He told her.
"Aren't you going to tell Tseng?" Elena asked.
"No need to." He responded as he opened the door and stepped out with her.
"It's like, the middle of the night!" she exclaimed.
"But this is an emergency!" he told her as he made his way through the streets of Edge.
"Geez. This is complicated…" Elena muttered to herself. "What if they start looking for us?" she demanded.
Reno rolled his eyes. "You talk too much! Just shut up and relax!" he told her in annoyance as he began to look around, searching for other people on the streets. "Gotta ask around where we can take you though…" he muttered with an uncomfortable look on his face.